BoxBox opens up about the negative effects streaming has on his personal life

Streaming might look like an effortless profession to the uninitiated, but spending countless hours in front of a screen attempting to perfect your craft while simultaneously entertaining a crowd can be taxing.

Teamfight Tactics streamer BoxBox revealed just how much it can hurt other aspects of a person’s life earlier today. Whether it’s personal relationships or issues with family, the amount of time it takes to maintain a streaming career and the money successful streams can make have the potential to lead to off-stream stress.

Talking about how he streamed a “ridiculous” amount of hours to “chase success,” the 26-year-old admitted to valuing his skills in gaming more than anything else in his life.

“I scared off friends who previously were down to give me their time and now they’re not,” he said. “I’ve strained my relationships with some of my family because some of them see me as a bag of money … that they can call upon for support rather than a human now. It’s like, nah, I’d rather just cut off that connection.”

Despite the fame and money he has earned, BoxBox longs for the time when things between him and his relatives were less complicated. In a way, his success in gaming has led to painful situations with family. But he’s acutely aware that he’s speaking from a position of fortune himself and doesn’t want to diminish the situations others might find themselves in.

“I kind of enjoyed it when both me and my relatives were poor and we were just relatives,” he said. “It’s a very first-world problem. I don’t feel like I have a right to complain because honestly at any point I could just stop streaming and life would be kind of OK.”